


Ultimate Mistake

by Rururinchan



Category: Paladins: Champions Of The Realm (Video Game)
Genre: I can't believe I'm writing romance, I made this to torment one of my favourite mods, M/M, seriously though
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-06
Updated: 2017-07-06
Packaged: 2018-11-28 12:21:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,168
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11417877
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rururinchan/pseuds/Rururinchan
Summary: A system malfunction and a careless swing of a flaming sword was a disaster waiting to happen.





	Ultimate Mistake

**Author's Note:**

> For Mod Zhin [@paladinsheadcanons](https://paladinsheadcanons.tumblr.com/) on Tumblr. Love you Mod Zhin. (Side Note: This is the shortest thing I've ever written in my life I swear.)
> 
> Posted on Tumblr too! [(Part 1)](https://rururinchan.tumblr.com/post/162567494729/ultimate-mistake-part-1) [(Part 2)](https://rururinchan.tumblr.com/post/162594596089/ultimate-mistake-part-2) [(Part 3)](https://rururinchan.tumblr.com/post/162663520899/ultimate-mistake-part-3)

Zhin was doing well that match. He’d just taken down Evie and Ying, before a sudden pink shape Pounced at him, throwing him off balance. Immediately after, two short knives flew at him. He barely Countered in time, and was about to finish Maeve off when she ended up getting shot down by an arrow. Zhin looked up to see Sha Lin there in the main tower of Stone Keep, giving him a cheeky grin before he returning to the fight as his team’s Inara and Grover managed to capture the Objective. Zhin grumbled in irritation at having his kill stolen, but at least it counted for his eliminations, and Sha Lin was the one person he didn’t entirely mind sharing those achievements with, especially after they finally worked things out between them.  _Not that he would ever admit it to that cocky archer._

As the payload began moving Zhin hurried to find Ying, the enemy team’s only source of healing. Hopefully she could cut her down quickly. However, just as he got to an isolated hallway, the distinct sound of Maeve’s Prowl was heard behind him. He turned quickly and sure enough she was right behind him. 

“Back again child?” Zhin yelled mockingly as he threw up his Counter again and deflected Maeve’s blades. 

“You got lucky that time kitten!” Maeve yelled back in annoyance as she kept jumping around and chucking her knives at him. Luckily, Zhin knew how to dodge them all, but Maeve was still frustratingly difficult to hit with all her jumping. He chipped away at her health, but it seemed she was able to inflict almost the same amount of damage right back. 

Just then a volley of arrows were shot at Maeve, who instantly Prowled to retreat, knowing she wouldn’t be able to take them both on at once. Sha Lin came into view, and immediately Zhin rushed to pursue Maeve to finish her off before Sha Lin managed to steal another kill on her. He would never live it down if he had that kill stolen twice in once day. 

Just then, in what seemed to be a desperate attempt to escape, Maeve suddenly made a sharp U-turn and shot past Zhin in the direction they came from, her haunting voice filling the air. 

_**“Good Night~”** _

Instantly, the hallway was shrouded in darkness, and Zhin knew that Maeve was only a second away from making it out of their duel unharmed. The frustration he’d built up from fighting Maeve took its toll. When he heard the sound of her Nine Lives reset, he just reacted without a second thought.

With a war cry, Zhin activated Spite and attacked in the direction of the sound. However, he was in for a terrible shock. 

Sha Lin cried out as Zhin slashed at him uncontrollably, each strike burning him badly on top of the sword wounds. Zhin fought to stop his arms, but he could not cancel his Ultimate and could only watch in absolute horror as he brutally slashed at the one person he dared to say he cared about. 

“STOP THE MATCH!  _STOP THE MATCH!!_ ” Maeve’s voice cried out in extreme panic with the global voice function just as Sha Lin’s limp body hit the ground once Zhin finally regained control of his own body. Zhin felt numb, his mind clouded and unable to even comprehend what had just happened. He only barely registered Maeve shouting at the healers to get to their location as soon as possible. In that moment, the only thought that was clear in his mind was the fact that he had just sliced up the most important person in the world to him. 

It was only aftrer the healers finally arrived and healed Sha Lin’s injuries did the reality sink in. Anger, guilt, and confusion about it all overwhelmed him, along with the exhaustion of the day’s match. No longer able to bear the weight of all that at once, Zhin promptly blacked out.

*******

Everything felt wrong.

After waking up in the infirmary, Zhin had promptly taken his anguish out on the other Paladins.

He had gone after Maeve first, blaming her on everything that had gone wrong. Tyra and Lex had only barely managed to hold him back from harming her, and Maeve soon fled the base entirely. Skye had scolded him for it, explaining that it had been a system malfunction which ended up allowing teammates to injure one another and it was neither of their faults. She had also made it a point to tell him that Maeve had in fact been blaming herself, but at that point Zhin no longer wanted to listen and stormed away, locking himself in his room. It was only when he was sure everyone else had gone to sleep that he returned to the infirmary. 

Now, late into the night, Zhin sat next to Sha Lin’s bed, blankly staring at the unconscious archer as he thought about the events that had occurred. 

Seeing Sha Lin so still and quiet was nothing short of unsettling, to put it in the lightest way possible. Zhin had known him since they were children, and even then, Sha Lin had been a fairly lively person. Perhaps not to the extent of some  ~~(Evie)~~ ,  but at the very least things had never felt boring between them, even when they found each other as enemies before Zhin decided to join the Paladins. Something about Sha Lin had always drawn Zhin to him, and Zhin had never felt happier when Sha Lin forgave him for his past deeds and promised to help him atone,  _together._

But after what happened…that promise may no longer be worth anything. 

System malfunction or not, Zhin had hurt Sha Lin. Plain and simple. He shouldn’t have been so intent on killing Maeve. He should’ve been more careful with his Ultimate, especially since he had known there was someone else in the vicinity, even if he believed the system was fully reliable. Sha Lin should never have been hurt at all. 

Zhin reached out, gently taking Sha Lin’s hand in his own. He thought about how Sha Lin would always give him a slight squeeze whenever they held hands, and to not feel it was… _difficult_. Zhin squeezed his eyes shut, the guilt beginning to gnaw at him once more. 

“I am so sorry…” He softly muttered, “Please…forgive me…”

There was no response. Sha Lin remained unresponsive, leaving Zhin feeling more alone than he had ever felt in a long time. 

*******

"...in...Zhin..."

Zhin slowly woke up, only just able to register that someone was shaking his arm and attempting to talk to him. Without much thought he looked up...and jerked back at once.

Sha Lin was staring at him, his hand on Zhin's arm, with a strangely neutral expression on his face...fully conscious.  

"Hey." He said softly. Zhin just stared at him for a moment before he found his voice again and responded with an equally soft 'hey' of his own.

Sha Lin pulled his hand back, dropping eye contact between them. Zhin gulped, his voice lost once more, as he waited for Sha Lin to say something. Usually he was the first to speak, but he couldn't find anything to say. Unfortunately, Sha Lin didn't say anything either, at least not right away. The two of them merely sat there in silence. It felt... _cold_. Zhin had always hated the cold.

Eventually, Sha Lin spoke, but it wasn't at all something Zhin wanted to hear.

"Zhin? Are...are you okay?"

Those words immediately sent an unbearable chill down Zhin's spine. The image of Sha Lin’s limp and bleeding body lying at his feet flashed through his mind, and then, the rage came back, exploding in his chest.

"Hey Zhin? What's..." Sha Lin started to say, but Zhin harshly cut him off.

"What's  _what_?!" He shouted, making Sha Lin visibly flinch, " _'What's wrong'_?! How can you even ask  _ME_  what's wrong after I almost killed you?!”

"What?!” Sha Lin exclaimed, clearly taken aback by Zhin's sudden hostility, but Zhin wasn't done, his grief overwhelming his control over his emotions.

“I wasn't the one who was slashed up and burned at the same time! I wasn't the one who lay close to death! You shouldn't be asking ME what's wrong!”

“Stop shouting at me like that.” Sha Lin suddenly cut in, sharply and firmly. His words and tone caught Zhin off-guard, and just like that, Zhin stopped, but Sha Lin started.

“I asked you what's wrong because I wanted to know if you were alright! Is that wrong?” He questioned angrily, but unlike Zhin, he was controlled enough to keep his voice at a normal volume, “I know I got seriously hurt with your Ultimate, how could I not? I'm lying in a bed covered in bandages and my body hurts like Ash bashed me straight into the side of Makoa’s active volcano! But I knew it was an accident, an accident you would no doubt blame yourself for! But you shout at me because I asked you if you were okay because I was  _worried about you_?!”

Zhin was absolutely dumbfounded. Sha Lin had never been particularly reserved, but such a strong reaction was still extremely out of character. Zhin felt his chest tighten as his own burst of anger faded away, and the guilt only increased. He placed a hand over his eyes, grunting in annoyance at his own idiocy. Sha Lin let out a huff and lay back down on the bed.

“I understand you are upset with the situation, and I understand you are worried about me.” He told Zhin, but not looking at him, “But shouting at me like that doesn't help anything right now.”

“You are right...I'm...I'm sorry Sha Lin.” Zhin replied after a while, feeling like a complete fool, “I was...I never meant to hurt you. I was so...so overwhelmed. I didn't know what to do, I was so angry at myself for what I did to you…”

“Zhin, my memory of what happened may be a bit blurry, but I already know it was just an accident.” Sha Lin sighed, still not looking at Zhin, which was probably what Zhin deserved at this point, “I know you were trying to hit Maeve, and I trust that you wouldn't hurt me intentionally like that.”

“But I should've been more careful. I should never have been so reckless.”

“Yeah, you should not have been. But it was an accident, and what's done is done Zhin. You can't change that.”

Sha Lin turned his head to look at Zhin now, a gentle frown on his face, and Zhin wordlessly returned his gaze. The guilt ate at him, and he wasn't sure what to do next.

“You really aren't okay.” Sha Lin commented, no longer asking, “You're really blaming yourself hard for this.”

“How could I not?” Zhin replied, “That moment, when I realized it was you I had hit, I...I felt true fear for the first time in years. I couldn't stop my Ultimate, I just kept wounding you further...over and over until you were almost dead. Had the healers not reached you as soon as they did…”

Zhin trailed off, not wanting to think about what would've happened.

“So healers aren't actually worthless then?” Sha Lin commented with a slight smile, snapping Zhin out of those darker thoughts immediately, “They did a good job didn't they?”

Zhin couldn't find the words to respond to that. When he didn't, Sha Lin reached out to him, gesturing for Zhin to take his hand. Zhin hesitated for a split second before he obliged, and Sha Lin gave his hand that gentle, light squeeze he'd taken for granted. When Zhin felt that, he recalled the disturbing emptiness he had felt when Sha Lin hadn't been able to do that in his unconscious state mere hours before. A proper sense of relief finally flooded through him, and he leaned over Sha Lin, bringing his loved one's hand closer to his chest.

“Sha Lin, please, forgive me…I'm sorry, for hurting you, and for shouting at you after...I just...” Zhin felt a lump in his throat. He couldn't remember the last time he had felt this vulnerable. Sha Lin gave his hand another squeeze.

“You already have my forgiveness.” He told Zhin, “I know this was an unfortunate accident Zhin, but I'm certain we can move past this. We are still both working things out between us, and I'm willing to keep on trying. For us.”

Sha Lin was smiling at him. After all that, Sha Lin was still there to smile at him. The guilt hadn't left, and Zhin still knew that Sha Lin would take a while to fully recover. But,  somehow, Zhin just knew everything would end up okay after all. Because they would work things out properly, together, like they promised.

_‘Thank you, my beloved.’_


End file.
